The New Orleans Saints will acknowledge a new company holiday on Friday, June 19 by recognizing Juneteenth, as first reported by ESPN’s Mike Triplett and confirmed by Nola.com’s Amie Just. Team owner Gayle Benson and president Dennis Lauscha made the decision to observe Juneteenth for both the Saints and the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans.
Juneteenth (also called Jubilee Day, or America’s Second Independence Day) is the celebration of the arrival of Union troops to Texas after Confederate leadership surrendered at Appomattox, Va., ending the Civil War. This allowed the enforcement of President Abraham Lincoln’s 1862 Emancipation Proclamation, effectively ending slavery in the United States.